Episode 36: Y-VES album preview

Y-VES album release date August 11, 2025

Album notes from Lenny: 

This album follows a pattern through all the seasons starting at the end of winter with Beautiful Day  and ending in Winter Solstice.  It goes through the seasons of a life as well as despair in Down that Long Road and From Scratch not thinking you are good enough to complete the masterpiece you know you can do and Lifeline  where you get someone telling you they will be there for you no matter what (also the beginning of true love) then you move into spring and summer where you gain confidence with Damn Right. Now you can start exploring the world around you with Lights in the Sky.

We are now moving into the fall season in life with Mixtape: losing someone you loved but always had a contentious relationship with like a parent only to find out how much they truly meant to you and you meant to them. We move into the next part of life exploring the relationship between partners and early dementia in Once in a Lifetime  and then  Sorry for your Loss- an exploration into loss of that loved one and into how the living partner deals with loss and the people around them. It explores both isolation and rebirth.

Spanish love song is play on songwriting where you say you can’t do something but then go ahead and do it. It brings out the thoughts of the end of summer and rebirth of love thinking of the Southern Caribbean and those hot steamy nights full of amore’ if you know what I mean as well as a secret getaway for 2 lovers.

Thirsty and Wet is our version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds -psychedelic and cool and is reminiscent to the end of fall, those cold rainy days in the Northeast dark and gloomy but still has a magic to it.

Winter solstice brings us back to winter of course but it is a tour de force. Lisa sent me the music and I asked her nicely if I could try writing words to this beautiful piece of art, and winter solstice was born.  It is beautifully sung and really gives you the feel of winter.

Y-VES is our bonus track but we wanted to name the album  after the bonus track kinda cool I think . Also I wanted to write a song for Lisa but it seemed kinda trite to write a song using her first name and she has so many hats in the music game jazz,rock and roll, standards , broadway musicals, teaching producing and even promoting other band that I thought to myself “Yves” is not a person but a movement ( similar to Lisa) and that is how Yves was born.  It takes us back to our years growing up listening to this type or rock and roll (happy music -very bouncy and cool fun to listen too .

The art work was a picture I took of the intracoastal in Florida where I live as the sun was setting I was in the right place at the right time, but I think it is perfect for this album-  it could be a sunset or sunrise  you decide.

Lisa always laughs about my writing because it is vague many times on purpose. I am a big proponent of letting the listener decide on the full story how the song affects them. I already know how it affects me  but what does it say to you and how do you fit the song and melody into your ecosphere?